Believe,
I think it's worth a shot. I looked at Michelle's page on Doe Network. It says she had a gap in her teeth but was fixed when she got with her husband.
Michelle Marie Ashley Nicholaou
Missing since between November and December, 1988 from Holyoke, Hampden County, Massachusetts
Classification: Endangered Missing
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Vital Statistics
Date Of Birth: October 18, 1966
Age at Time of Disappearance: 22 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5' 4"; 100-160 lbs. (Usually weighed 120 lbs.)
Distinguishing Characteristics: Sandy-Brown, wavy, thick hair; brown eyes. Possibly two piercings in each ear.
Medical: She gave birth to three children.
Dentals:
Growing up, Michelle had a gap in her two front teeth. Sometime while she was with Michael Nicholaou, she had the gap fixed. AKA: Nicholaou, Nicolaou, Nicolau, Nicols, Nichols, Nicholno, Nickol, maybe Nichalaon.
DNA: Available in the National Missing Person Data Base
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Circumstances of Disappearance
Michelle was last seen in Holyoke, Massachusetts between November and December, 1988. At the time, she was living with her common-law husband, Michael Nicholaou.
According to family members, Nicholaou kept close tabs on Michelle, and was very controlling - to the point, he would not even allow her to shave her underarms. She went from wonderful, and bubbly, to paranoid, after she hooked up with Nicholaou. They traveled a lot, between Louisiana, Massachusetts, Virginia, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
Sometime in the beginning of August 1988, Michelle took their two children, afraid, and ran away from Nicholaou. Nicholaou was furious and drove to her relative's homes in New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts, looking for them. It was then that she told her mother that Michael was going to kill her, and when he did, to track him down and save her children. When Nicholaou found Michelle and the children, he forced her to go back with him; three to four months later, sometime after her sister's November 1988 wedding, Michelle vanished.
When her family went looking for her in December, they found the home abandoned, the refrigerator full of food, the Christmas tree up with wrapped presents underneath, and her children's baby books, all left behind. There was no sign of Michelle. Michael Nicholaou had run off with the children. Michelle's family filed a missing persons report on December 20, 1988.
In 2000, Michelle’s mom asked Private Investigator, Lynn-Marie Carty, to help her find out what happened to Michelle, and to track down Nicholaou and the children. Ms. Carty traced Nicholaou's steps right after Michelle's disappearance to Virginia. He left the children with a former employee of his *advertiser censored* shop, stole her van, and ran again. Later, he came back for the children, and went to his brother's house, where he left the kids for a year. He also visited his mother's house, also in Virginia; some former Army buddies in Florida; and lived with the children, in the family car in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in 1992. When people asked about Michelle, he repeated the story of her running off with a drug dealer, or he told others she was dead.
Michelle grew up in Connecticut River Valley, and met Nicholaou in Virginia. Nicholaou grew up in Long Island, and enlisted in the Army, serving in the Vietnam War. He was a highly decorated soldier, who was accused of strafing civilians, held in the stockade, eventually released, as the charges were dropped. He and Michelle moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, where "Nick the Greek" and "Nick the Hammer", names given to him in the war, opened a *advertiser censored* shop. When the business failed, they moved to Holyoke, Massachusetts. They had a daughter born in Virginia in 1986, and a son was born in South Hampton, Massachusetts in 1988. The two children have since reunited with their mothers family.
In October 2001, Investigator Carty, tracked Nicholaou down in Lutz, Florida. She called him and his wife Aileen, (whom he would later murder). Ms. Carty asked him a series of questions. He denied even knowing Michelle, but finally admitted he did, but said they were never married, and claimed she ran off with a Columbian drug dealer. At the end of the conversation, Ms. Carty told Nicholaou she was giving Michelle's mom his number and hung up. According to investigators, Nicholaou tore the phone from the wall, and again went on the run. He and his wife Aileen moved to Georgia, where it is alleged Nicholaou ran her over with a car after an argument, in November 2005. On New Years Eve, in 2005, Nicholaou went to Florida where Aileen was recuperating, and gunned down his estranged wife, and stepdaughter Terrin Bowman. Surrounded by police, he fatally shot himself.
According to authorities, Michael Nicholaou is now a person of interest in the Connecticut River Valley Serial Killings, rapes, disappearances and murders of other women in New Hampshire, Virginia, Texas, Florida, Vermont, Massachusetts, and possibly New York and Illinois.
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Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Holyoke Police Department
Detective Kevin Boyle
413-322-6940
or
Investigator Lynn-Marie Carty
727-384-3463
Agency Case Number: 01-248-1V
NCIC Number: M-882077090
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.
Source Information:
The Family of Michelle Marie Ashley Nicholaou
Investigator Lynn-Marie Carty
Crime and Justice
St. Petersburg Times 1/8/06
CrimeShadows.com
Fly Army
http://www.doenetwork.org/ Case File 2355DFMA
